COLUMBUS Attorney general again seeks execution delay for DNA tests

If granted, it would be the third postponement of John Spirko's execution.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Attorney General Jim Petro asked Gov. Bob Taft on Tuesday to again delay the execution of a man who says he's innocent of a 1982 slaying to allow for more DNA testing.
If granted, it would be the third time since September the lethal injection of John Spirko has been postponed.
Petro asked Taft to delay the execution, set for Jan. 19, by six months to allow for the testing requested by Spirko's lawyers.
Spirko, 59, was convicted of killing Betty Jane Mottinger, the postmistress in Elgin in northwest Ohio. She was abducted and repeatedly stabbed, then wrapped in a tarp and dumped in a field. Her body was found three weeks later.
Petro says his office needs time to test hairs found on duct tape wrapped around the tarp that contained Mottinger's body.
He says his office will also need time to find other potential suspects -- including some whose names came up earlier in the case -- if the hairs are found to come from someone other than Spirko or Mottinger. Some of the previous suspects live out of state and Ohio may need court orders to demand the testing, Heather Gosselin, senior deputy attorney general, said in a letter to Taft's office Tuesday.
Other possible suspects
Among those individuals is Delaney Gibson, a friend of Spirko's who initially was charged along with Spirko in Mottinger's slaying.
A large part of the prosecution's original case was based on witnesses who placed Gibson at the post office the day of the killing.
Others on the list include a house painter who says his former boss on a painting crew was the real killer, and the boss, now imprisoned in Louisiana on an unrelated crime.
Petro, a Republican, is running for governor this year. He believes strongly in the ability of DNA to show both guilt and innocence, spokeswoman Kim Norris said.